Donkey Stories in Ireland

It began when Danny and Sandra Curran took in a starving donkey which a friend had found tied to an old car in a bog and grew into a sanctuary which now cares for almost a hundred donkeys at Castledooey near Raphoe in Donegal.

However, Covid-19 has hit the Donegal Donkey Sanctuary a double blow and “on the brink of a financial crisis”.

Forced to close its gates to visitors, the sanctuary has no income to feed and care for the animals.

On top of that, the Currans say, there has been an increase recently in the number of […]

Local Celebrity Donkey

In 2018, on a glorious sunny Good Friday morning, we gathered in Kilternan for the traditional walk to Glencullen, on “The Way of the Cross”. As we walked in quiet contemplative mood chatting quietly and praying intermittently, the morning was suddenly shattered with a loud braying “Hee Haw! Hee Haw!” We were being treated to a royal welcome by Miss April and her friends, who were startled at the unusual activity on their normally quiet stretch of road frontage.

Little did we know it, but the attractive lady donkey leading this welcome was a “celebrity […]

RTE News | 3rd July 2020
By Eleanor Mannion

An education centre for blind and multi-disabled children has started equine therapy home visits for youngsters who had been missing their sessions due to the lockdown.

The equine therapy unit of charity ChildVision in Drumcondra, Dublin, usually offers equine assisted occupational therapy at an outdoor arena and at its sensory trail, but the centre has been closed since March due to the coronavirus pandemic.Equine assisted therapy involves the use of horses and equine-related activities to achieve therapeutic goals such as enhancing physical, emotional, social, cognitive, behavioural and […]

The Wallaces say it is humbling to hear that a woman who never talks to anyone asked to see Denis again or a woman who’s 102 years old and blind can tell which donkey is which by the feel of them

My grá for donkeys is linked to holidays in the wilderness of 1960s Connemara. Picture from Kinedaledonkeys.co.uk

Nuala McCann | The Irish News | 08 June, 2020

Co Down’s Kinedale donkey therapists – ‘The doors were opened wide and Denis trip trapped inside’.
In a crisis, a donkey – as well as a pint […]

IDS members Mary Mc Ateer and husband Michael Tutty are delighted to welcome two adoptees from My Lovely Horse Rescue (MLHR).

The two beautiful mares Chloe who is grey with a hint of mink and Sinéad, a dark chocolate brown, were abused, neglected and abandoned. They came into the care of MLHR where they were cared for at the centre. Mary and Michael hope to be their ‘ forever’ carers. The donkeys are micro-chipped and registered in the ownership of MLHR.

Chloe and Sinéad join donkey Angel and retired racehorse Happy Molecules.

Photos (click on a photo […]